By Tara Mukund The Indian internet freedom landscape is getting spookier by the day. The latest onslaught is a legal zombie, better known as Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (S.66A). Such undead laws rise from a gap between legal invalidation and continued enforcement. They are ‘dead’, in that they are constitutionally invalid, and will not hold up in court...
By Clare A’Hearn In the United States there are currently over 158,000 people incarcerated in federal penitentiaries. Compassionate release provides an opportunity of reentry to these incarcerated individuals, but compassionate release is not granted at a sufficient rate, even when individuals can prove the “extraordinary and compelling reasons” mandated for approval. Compassionate release...
By Sami Gottsegen PZ ’25 The Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the federal right to abortion, inspired an influx of anti-abortion legislation in states across the country. Since June, twenty-four states have banned or placed heavy restrictions on abortion, representing the broader political attack on reproductive freedom. Now, a case...
By Arivumani Srivastava (PO ’26) Charter school enrollment across the United States has more than doubled since 2009 from 1.6 million to 3.4 million students, despite their increasingly polarizing position in communities and governments across the nation. This growth has been the source of contentious political debate on the efficacy and effectiveness of charter schools, resulting in bitter...
Emrys Yamanishi PO ’25 California is home to the most fast-food employees of any state in the country. Those almost 400 thousand workers currently make $15.61 per hour, averaging about $30,000 per year in wages. Reflecting the diversity of the state, over 80% of these are workers of color, almost 70% are women, and 20% have children. Many of these workers face unsafe and unsanitary...
By Emrys Yamanishi This September, by an 8-3 vote, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Assembly Bill (AB) 32, based on the reliance that California currently has on private prisons to house its large prison population. GEO Group Inc, one of the largest prison contractors in the country, brought the case back in 2020. Governor Newsom signed AB 32 back into law in 2019 and declared a...
By Arivumani Srivastava (PO ’26) Cable news attacks accusing schools of indoctrination, parents storming school board meetings, and bills proposing to prosecute teachers are all byproducts of the culture wars that have enveloped the United States during and after Trump’s presidency. Now, opponents’ have their eyes set on a new battleground: the classroom. Schools have become ground zero for...
By Nymisha Desai (PZ ’25) On September 13th 2022, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina introduced a bill to ban most abortions nationwide after 15 weeks except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. Graham decided on the 15 week threshold because in his words, “the science tells us the nerve endings are developed to the point that the unborn child feels pain...
As America finally approaches a Covid-free society with looser mask rules and overall restrictions, the aftermath of the pandemic becomes clearer and highlights one of the near future’s political challenges. In education, schools’ survival and students’ academic progress were defined by the availability of funds and resources. Not surprisingly, the education quality of minority...
by Sami Gottsegen (PZ ’25) On Thursday, March 10, the Florida State Senate passed HB 7/SB 148. Now on its way to the desk of Governor Ron DeSantis, the bill, dubbed the “Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act,” is part of a series of attacks on critical race theory. In an interview with the New York Times, Trip Gabriel simply defined critical race theory as “a lens or...
